The University of Florida, located in Gainesville, is one of eleven state run, public land-grant universities serving Florida. The university was founded in 1853 as the East Florida Seminary. The enrollment at Florida is approximately 50,000 students.[3] The university is ranked by the 2009 U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges as the 49th best school in the nation as well as the 17th best national public school.[4] UF has nationally recognized programs in engineering, business, medicine, law and natural sciences. Members of the faculty have been awarded two Pulitzer Prizes and a Field's Medal.[5]

Sports

Sports teams at UF are known as the Gators. The men's basketball team won back-to-back National Championships in 2006 and 2007. The football team won National Championships in 1996, 2006 and 2008.

UF has also produced three Heisman Trophy winners; Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerfful (1996) and Tim Tebow (2007). Tim Tebow and Danny Wuerfful have been very open about their Christian faith. Wuerfful has been involved in the reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina by providing staff to assist with the clean-up as well as starting a school for displaced children in Niceville, Fl [6] Tim Tebow has spent his summers in the Philippines with his missionary parents helping poor children.[7] Tebow's speech after the only loss of the 2008 season to Ole Miss is seen by some as being the morale boost that motivated the Gators to dominate the rest of the season and win their third National Championship.

The UF athletic program has consistently been ranked among the best in the nation, being placed in the top 10 every year since 1983.[8] This is not only due to athletic success, but also the academic success of Gator athletes. Florida has a graduation success rate (GSR) of 89%, making it one of only three schools in the top 10 of the NACDA National All Sports rankings to have a GSR of over 85%.[9]